


Forgiveness

by Galaxa13



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 13:13:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5418374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galaxa13/pseuds/Galaxa13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a while since the monsters have been freed from the Underground. Frisk lives happily with Toriel and two skeleton brothers while they do their best to broker peace between humans and monsters. Things were not always so happy, though. Frisk remembers the times where they made different choices and has to deal with the guilt even if no one else remembers those choices. </p><p>Well, that's not true. Someone else remembers too. Someone more optimistic than Sans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgiveness

     _Frisk stood in a desert. There was nothing but white sand as far as the eye could see and darkness above. They took a step. Clouds formed around their feet. This wasn't sand. . . it was_ dust _._

     _"I told you that you were going to have a bad time."_

     _Frisk whirled around and was face to face with a giant, monstrous skull. The lower jaw split as it opened its mouth. Light began building up within its maw._

     _"Kids like you should be burning in_ hell _."_

    Frisk's eyes snapped open. They looked around the dark room as their heart beat within their chest. It was just a dream, just a nightmare. They reached up and rubbed at their eyes. Just another nightmare about _that time_. They were coming more and more frequently. It was right around the time Frisk started feeling the strain of being the Ambassador that they started coming. With a sigh they glanced over at the clock. It was 7:03. They might as well get up, not like they were going back to sleep with the nightmare still clinging to their mind anyway. Getting up they started getting ready for the day. After getting dressed and opening the curtains they stepped out into the hall.

    Frisk stumbled into the kitchen to make themselves a bowl of cereal and found Papyrus sitting at the counter bent over the newspaper. He looked up as they walked in.

    "Ah! Good morning, Frisk!" he greeted them. "You're up earlier than usual! Are you ready to bravely face the day?"

    Frisk mumbled some syllables as they opened the cupboard to retrieve a bowl.

    "Are you alright?" Papyrus asked as he watched them grab a box of their favorite cereal.

    "Bad dream." Frisk sighed before pouring the colorful bits of sugar into their bowl.

    "Oh no!!" Papyrus exclaimed. "Fear not, young Frisk, for I, The Great Papyrus, will protect you from any harm! Nothing bad can happen to you on my watch!!" he said as he suddenly stood up and struck a pose.

    "Thanks, Papyrus." Frisk replied as they opened the fridge to get the milk.

    "You don't sound very happy with my offer of protection. . ." Papyrus said. If a skeleton could pout he would have.

    "It's just. . . It wasn't a nightmare about something bad happening to me." Frisk said as they dropped a spoon into their bowl. "I mean, it was, but it was more about reminding me about things I don't want to think about."

    Frisk then carried their bowl over to the counter and set it down next to Papyrus. Crawling up onto the stool they sat down and began to eat.

    "I am very sorry to hear that." Papyrus said. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

    "Not right now, but thanks. I just want to eat and forget about it." Frisk replied as they stared into their bowl. Papyrus nodded and went back to puzzling over the games in the morning's newspaper. Thankfully he allowed Frisk to eat in silence.

    Eventually Toriel woke up and kissed Frisk good morning as she set about making her own breakfast. She was going to be heading to the school that day despite it being the weekend. There were some things she needed to take care of. Secretly Frisk was thankful for that. Despite their best efforts to just forget about it they couldn't forget their dream and they didn't think they could handle dealing with Toriel today. It was always hard to look at her when they remembered _those_ times.

    Sans woke up late, as usual, but after he eventually made his way out into the rest of the house he announced he was heading out. Frisk couldn't stop the sigh of relief from escaping their lips as he stepped out the door. That just left them and Papyrus with the house to themselves, and Papyrus was usually good about occupying himself. That meant Frisk wouldn't have to deal with anyone today.

    Except that wasn't the case. Papyrus sat down next to Frisk as they sat on the couch.

    "You look very sad, Frisk. Are you still thinking about your nightmare?" he asked.

    "Yeah." Frisk admitted as they brought their knees up to their chest. They wished Papyrus would stop looking at them with such concern, it didn't help their current mood.

    "Would you like to talk about it? It must be bothering you a lot. I am a very good listener." Papyrus said.

    "I don't really want to. It just made me feel like a terrible person." Frisk muttered into their legs.

    "You're a great person, Frisk, you shouldn't feel bad about yourself!" Papyrus said with a big smile.

    "You wouldn't say that if you knew what I've done. . ." Frisk said, turning their head away from him. Bits of another time flashed in their mind. His head rolling off his shoulders. The glint of a knife. Monsters fleeing in terror.

    "The past is in the past. What matters is that you're trying your best now!" Papyrus said as he put a hand on Frisk's shoulder.

    "But Papyrus I. . . I did something unforgivable. I. . . I did something bad to you." Frisk said as their fingers curled in the fabric of their pants.

    "You mean when you killed me?"

    Frisk's head spun around and they stared at Papyrus with wide eyes. He suddenly looked very somber.

    "You. . . You know about that?" they squeaked, their mouth feeling very dry all of a sudden.

    "I don't like thinking about timeline stuff, that is what Sans is always more interested in, but I still remember all the resets." Papyrus said, looking away from them without losing his serious gaze. "Not just your's. Flowey's too. . ." He turned his face back to smile at Frisk.

    "Did you know I kept making a Flowey fan club? I could tell how lonely he was, even in the timelines where he had made friends with everyone. I tried my best to show him how great he was and that he didn't need to feel so lonely." he said before frowning. "It never worked. . . Then you came along. . ." Papyrus smiled again. "You don't have to feel bad for those times you hurt me, Frisk. I've forgiven you. Didn't I tell you that I knew you were a good person deep down? Now look where we are!"

    Frisk just stared at him. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Papyrus _knew_? They've known that Sans knew about their reset abilities, he told them as much himself when they finally fought, but it never even occurred to them that Papyrus was also aware. . .

    "How. . . How can you just forgive me like that? After all those people I've killed?!" Frisk cried out, tears pricking at the corner of their eyes.

    "Frisk. . . I believe everyone can be a good person if they tried. Look at what you've done in _this_ timeline. You haven't hurt _anyone_ and you've helped all monsters and humans get along. You've been doing so much good. That's what matters. Right here and now." Papyrus said, looking very solemn as he turned to put both hands on their shoulders.

    "But I could just reset everything and do bad things again!" Frisk shouted as they jumped off the couch and away from his touch. Why was he being so nice?! Why was he _always_ so nice? Even Sans, who was always telling jokes, was never as constantly nice to them as Papyrus was.

    "If you do I'll do my best to remind you of what a good person you are so you won't. That's why I always tried to capture you so early in your journey. To show you that you don't need to kill people to win." Papyrus said, slowly standing up. "Even in the times where you killed me I believed in you, and you always went back and undid it. We've been in this timeline longer than any of the other ones now. I don't think you'll reset it now just to do everything over again. You've learned, haven't you?" He gave them another smile and reached out a hand to them.

    Frisk backed away from the offered hand as tears streamed down their cheeks.

    "I. . . I. . ." they choked on their words as their vision blurred. "But Sans! He. . ."

    "Sans cares about you too. I may not know what he did in those timelines after I died, but I know he wouldn't be here with you if he hadn't forgiven you too." Papyrus said gently as he got on his knees, still holding out his hand.

    Memories of phone calls from other timelines swam through Frisk's mind. Sans telling them to never come back. Him threatening them. Telling them how Undyne was going to kill them. Not even bothering to talk to them at all and just letting Alphys talk. Frisk shook their head.

    "No, h-he must hate me! He's just not saying anything b-because it would upset Toriel! Why d-don't you hate me too if you remember me _killing_ you?!"

    Suddenly Frisk felt two, boney arms wrap around them and pull them into a hug.

    "Neither of us hate you, Frisk." Papyrus said softly as he held them. "I don't hate you because you're my _friend_. If Sans hated you he would never try to make you smile like he does. We both care _so much_ about you, Frisk. Neither of us want to see you do bad things and that's why we're here. To remind you of the _good person_ you are deep down."

    Frisk couldn't work up the energy to run from his embrace so they wrapped their arms around his torso instead and cried onto his shoulder. They cried and they cried while he rubbed slow circles into their back. Eventually Frisk was all cried out and they lifted their head.

    "Feeling better?" Papyrus asked as he looked at them.

    "A. . . a bit." Frisked sniffed. Then they managed to give Papyrus a smile, which he returned. He really didn't feel any ill will towards them. They were forgiven for every misdeed they had done in a previous timeline. It was funny, they had forgiven Asriel for all the terrible things he had done as Flowey and for when he stole all the monsters' souls, but it had been so hard for them to accept that Papyrus had forgiven _them_. Papyrus really was the greatest.

    "Now, why don't we watch some T.V.?" Papyrus said as he rose to his feet.

    "O.K." Frisk said quietly as they wiped their eyes, still smiling at him.


End file.
